This invention relates to a keyless chuck for a power drill or the like. Prior keyless chucks have suffered from various problems which have limited use of the chucks. They have been quite complicated and therefore costly. They may grip the tool so tightly it is extremely difficult to release the tool. Others do not grip tight enough. The prior designs generally have a sleeve which is manually actuated to engage the drive to close or open the chuck jaws. The sleeve usually rotates with the chuck and can harm the operator. To avoid that problem one design uses a floating sleeve which necessitates expensive construction.
This invention is directed to overcoming such problems to provide a high performance, easy-to-operate keyless chuck at reasonable cost . . . a cost very competitive with a standard wrench operated geared chuck. The chuck incorporates an impacting feature allowing a rapid series of impacts to be delivered to open or close the jaws.